Evaluation of Federal Support for Family Justice
2. Federal Support for Family Justice Profile
2.1 Context
Family law is an area of shared constitutional jurisdiction. The federal government has jurisdiction over divorce and other related matters ancillary to divorce, such as parenting, and child and spousal support. Provincial and Territorial (PT) governments have jurisdiction over matters relating to unmarried couples who separate, and to married couples who separate but do not divorce. Federal, Provincial and Territorial (FPT) roles are described in further detail in Table 1.
| Federal role | Provincial and territorial role |
|---|---|
Marriage (capacity)
|
Marriage (solemnization)
|
Divorce
|
Property and Civil Rights
|
Enforcement (to assist provinces and territories in enforcing family obligations)
|
Administration of Justice
|
The Department of Justice (hereafter the Department) plays a vital role in developing and implementing federal family laws, policies and programs and also provides family law legal and policy advice to the federal government. Efforts to address family justice issues are coordinated through collaboration and information sharing among jurisdictions.
In addition, Federal Support for Family Justice activities are intended to help families make decisions related to separation or divorce by providing information about matters such as parenting, child support and spousal support; to help families resolve issues without going to court; to help families obtain and enforce child and spousal support; and to provide tools to help people, including children, deal with the impacts of separation or divorce.
Many family justice issues are complex and require collaborative action. The ultimate outcome of the Department’s contribution is to increase access to family justice for Canadians. The federal government’s legal and policy work, funding, programs, activities, information services and other supports benefit families who have experienced separation or divorce. Additional benefits flow to others who work on family justice.
2.2 Description
Through Budget 2017, the Department received an ongoing mandate to continue its support of the family justice system. Prior to Budget 2017, the Department provided support for family justice through the Supporting Families Experiencing Separation and Divorce Initiative (SFI) which operated from 2009 to 2016. Federal contributions to family justice support include:
The provision of legal advice, analysis and policy development: The Department is responsible for developing and implementing federal family laws, policies and programs affecting Canadian families, children and young people. The Department provides legal advice and policy expertise to the Minister of Justice, federal litigators, and other federal government departments (e.g. federal employee salary garnishment to enforce all civil orders - not just family support orders). The Department also contributes to the development of the federal position on family law and children’s law issues in international fora.
Collaboration, engagement and information sharing: The Department works closely with family justice representatives from the 13 PT governments across Canada through various bodies including the Coordinating Committee of Senior Officials – Family Justice (CCSO-FJ) and its sub-committees, working groups and task groups. These bodies are important mechanisms for family justice policy work, collaboration and information sharing. The Department also produces public legal education and information (PLEI) products as well as professional training materials, and delivers training and workshops on family justice topics.
Grants and contributions: The Canadian Family Justice Fund (CFJF) and its predecessor program, the Supporting Families Fund (SFF), have provided up to $16 million in funding annually, of which $15 million has provided support for the development of PT government programs, services and information resources that assist families experiencing separation and divorce.
The remaining $1 million in funding is used to support family justice projects undertaken by the provinces and territories or non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Under the SFF, $500,000 in annual funding was allocated to provinces and territories for pilot projects, and $500,000 was allocated for NGO projects. Under the CFJF, these two components have been merged into one. Other important differences between the SFF and CFJF are highlighted in Section 4.3.2.
The CFJF targets the following priorities:
- Fostering FPT collaboration to make improvements to the Canadian family justice system;
- Supporting the well-being of family members engaging with the family justice system;
- Extending the reach of family justice programs, services and information to meet the needs of diverse and underserved populations;
- Supporting alternatives to court for the resolution of family law matters; and
- Improving and streamlining family justice system links/processes to support the simplification of family court processes, information sharing between courts and family justice services, and improved coordination with other parts of the justice system (e.g. criminal justice system).
Under the CFJF, while the provinces and territories must address each of the five priorities, they determine the relative emphasis that they will place on each priority; under the SFF, the provinces and territories had less flexibility.
Delivery of federal enforcement and divorce-related services: After separation or divorce, spouses and children are more vulnerable to poverty if they do not receive the financial support to which they are entitled. The Department assists the provinces and territories with their enforcement efforts through the administration of the FOAEAA and its regulations, as well as the administration of Garnishment Registries under Part 1 of the GAPDA and its regulations. The Department processes applications to trace individuals in default of a family obligation; garnishes federal payments to satisfy support orders and agreements; and suspends or denies certain federal licences and Canadian passports of individuals who are chronically behind in family support payments. The Department also administers the Garnishment Registries situated across the country and provides legal advice with respect to pension diversion under Part II of the GAPDA.
In addition, the Department houses the CRDP, a nationwide registry of divorce proceedings, which assists courts across Canada by detecting duplicate proceedings.
2.3 Governance and Structure
Federal contributions to family justice include the legal and policy work of the Department’s Family, Children and Youth (FCY) Section and the program administration work of the Innovations, Analysis and Integration Directorate (IAID) within the Programs Branch, which administers the CFJF (and its predecessor the SFF). The Research and Statistics Division (RSD) and the Strategic Communications Division (SCD) support these effortsFootnote 1.
Family, Children and Youth Section
The FCY Section is the centre of expertise on family law, family justice and children’s law within the Department. The Section is responsible for developing and implementing federal family laws, policies and programs affecting Canadian families, children and young people, and provides legal and policy advice and information to the federal government on these issues.
The FCY Section also administers federal support enforcement and divorce-related services to support provinces and territories and for the benefit of Canadians, and develops and disseminates PLEI for the benefit of Canadians, particularly unrepresented litigants.
The Section is accountable its overall development, direction, implementation and management. It contains four units: the Family and Children’s Law Policy Unit; the Support Enforcement Law and Policy Unit; the Family Law Assistance Services; and the Administrative UnitFootnote 2.
Innovations, Analysis and Integration Directorate
The IAID, within the Department’s Programs Branch, is responsible for administering the grants and contributions (Gs&Cs) funds for the CFJF, and was responsible for its predecessor the SFF.
Through the CFJF, the Department is expected to facilitate access to the family justice system for families experiencing separation and divorce through the provision of funding to provinces and territories and NGOs for various services, programs and information resources. Family justice funding is expected to assist the provinces and territories to develop and provide family justice services and programs, such as parent education, mediation, support enforcement, and child support recalculation. Federal funding is also expected to assist NGOs in developing family law information and training resources or new strategies, models or tools intended to improve access to family justice.
Additional information on Federal Support for Family Justice activities, outputs and outcomes is provided in Appendix B.
2.4 Resources
Budgeted support for Federal Support for Family Justice totalled $96 million for the four-year period (2014-15 to 2017-18) covered by the evaluation, of which two-thirds (67%) was related to the Gs&Cs awarded under the CFJF and SFF. Other budgeted expenses include salary and operating and maintenance (O&MFootnote 3) expenditures associated with the FCY Section and the IAID. Research and communication services continue to be provided via a centralized model.
| Year | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17Footnote 4 | 2017-18 | Total | Percent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gs&Cs | $16,000,000 |
$16,000,000 |
$16,000,000 |
$16,000,000 |
$64,000,000 |
67% |
| O&M | 3,589,821 |
3,640,960 |
2,383,945 |
2,582,632 |
12,197,358 |
13% |
| Salary | 5,136,169 |
5,136,169 |
4,105,479 |
5,038,574 |
19,416,391 |
20% |
| Total | $24,725,990 |
$24,777,129 |
$22,489,424 |
$23,621,206 |
$95,613,749 |
100% |
Source: Department IFMS
Budget = TBS + Existing Funds
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